EL MIRAGE, AZ — One person is dead and three others were arrested after a shooting at an El Mirage home Saturday.
Just after 5 p.m., El Mirage police were called to a home near El Mirage and Thunderbird roads for a shooting.
Emergency crews located a gunshot victim at the scene who was pronounced dead.
Police say the gunshot victim was with three others when they showed up at the residence armed with "rudimentary weapons."
During the incident, a resident of the home fired at the group, striking one person while the others ran away. The other people have not yet been located.
It was later determined the group targeted the home as part of a human smuggling operation, according to El Mirage Police Department.
Three people who are residents of the home, including the person who fired the weapon, were arrested.
Four additional people inside the residence were discovered to be held against their will and were not injured. Those four people were smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico, Guatemala, and Ecuador, authorities said. The EMPD Victim Assistance Unit is providing those victims with appropriate resources.
Detectives are working to learn the relationship between the original four individuals who arrived at the home and the people who lived there.
The three people arrested were identified as a 16-year-old boy, who is facing charges of second-degree murder, 44-year-old Braulio Hernandez Mariscal, and 60-year-old Carmen Rivas Fernandez.
An investigation remains ongoing.
